[Aliventures newsletter] Four simple tweaks to make to your blog today, balancing writing and admin, new ebooks

Published: Thu, 06/16/16

 
Image
Hello!
It's been a busy week here: I completely rewrote two of my mini-ebooks, and had two major guest posts go up yesterday. More on all of that in a moment! (I also proofread my husband's literature review for his PhD ... he had to read and critique about five drafts of my last novel, so I guess I still owe him some editing!)

If you haven't yet had a chance to read this week's post on the Aliventures blog: How to Blog Consistently and Build Your Audience: Eight Simple Steps

You might also want to check out my guest posts this week:


For novelists: 8 Tips for Editing Other Writers' Work (While Remaining Friends), on Helping Writers Become Authors

 
Brand New Versions of Blogging Mini-Ebooks
I've just updated two of the mini-ebooks in the little library here:


Password: alinewsletter

They are:

Ten Powerful Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Stronger, covering:
  • Crafting great titles for your posts
  • Using compelling images and other design elements
  • Writing powerfully and engagingly to keep readers' attention
  • Encouraging your readers to respond to your posts
... and lots more!

Ten Easy Ways to Attract Readers to Your Blog ... And Keep Them There, covering:
  • Getting your blog into great shape
  • Helping readers to share your content on social networks
  • Drawing in traffic from forum and email signatures
  • Writing guest posts to get new readers
... and lots more!

I've also got brand new covers for these mini-ebooks, as you can see above. :-)

So, even if you've downloaded these and read them before ... please download the new versions! They're fully updated in light of the changes in the blogging world since I first wrote them, and I've also given brand new examples and further reading suggestions.
 
Four Simple Tweaks to Make to Your Blog Today
If you've got the nagging sense that your blog needs some attention, but you definitely don't have time for a full-scale redesign or relaunch ... take heart! These are all straightforward tips that don't take long to put into place ... but they should help readers to engage more deeply with your blog.

#1: Encourage Readers to Get Your Blog Posts by Email

If you've been around the blogging world for a while, or if you're fairly techy-minded, you might well follow all your favourite blogs through an RSS reader like Feedly. (That's what I do.) But plenty of your readers won't be familiar with RSS. Instead, offer your RSS feed by email (I do this via Feedburner but you could also send the emails through a service like MailChimp) and make the email sign-up prominent in your side bar. Of course you can continue to offer an RSS link, as I do ... but you might well find that most people opt for email updates.

Although this might take a little bit of time to set up, it's something you only need to do once – and you can reap the benefits for months or years afterwards, as readers sign up to your blog and become loyal fans.

#2: End Every Post You Write with a Call to Action

A "call to action" just means asking the reader to do something. That could be:
  • Put what they've just read into practice (you might give them instructions or suggestions in a section headed "Action Steps" or "Exercise" or "Homework" or "Try it" ...)
  • Leave a comment on the post (you may want to prompt readers with a specific question)
  • Check out your book or product (this works best if you can draw some sort of link between it and the subject of your post)
... or almost anything else you can think of. Ask yourself what you want readers to do as a result of reading your post: ideally, you'll want to make this an action that benefits both them and you. (E.g. Leaving a comment can help them to think through the post they've read, and may help them find like-minded readers to get to know.)

#3: Update Your "About" Page (and Keep Doing So Regularly)
 
If your blog's been going for a while, there's a good chance that your About page is getting a bit out of date. Spend twenty minutes giving it a quick update today. That could mean:
  • Updating personal details about you that have changed (e.g. where you live, the age of your kids)
  • Adding in links to popular posts (consider a "Start Here" page if your blog has been going for a year or more)
  • Editing details about your books or products, any services you offer, etc if these have changed
  • Adding in names of blogs / publications you've written for
You'll want to continue updating your About page on a regular basis: it's one of the first pages that new readers will look at. I have a recurring task in my to-do management software, Nozbe, that prompts me to check and update my About page every three months.

#4: Add (or Update) a Photo of Yourself

While I don't think it's mandatory to have a photo of yourself on your blog, it's a great way to build a connection with readers. A professional shot is great, if you have one – but any nice, clear, smiling photo is fine too. 

You may want to use a photo that ties in with your blog's theme: e.g. if you blog about writing, you might have a photo of yourself at your desk or standing by your books; if you blog about parenting, you might want a photo that shows you with your kids. 

It's worth updating your photo every so often, especially if your appearance has changed significantly (e.g. you've dyed your hair, lost/gained weight) so that readers who meet you in real life or who see you on video aren't thrown by the difference between your photo and how you now look.

#5: Remove Any Clutter from Your Blog's Sidebar

Over time, blog sidebars have a tendency to collect clutter (just like desks). That neat little widget you added two years ago might no longer be so useful or necessary – and it's distracting readers from the things you really want them to see (like the email sign up widget). 

Some key clutter culprits are:
  • The "meta" widget that comes installed with WordPress by default – it's no use to readers, so remove it (bookmark any of the links from it that you need, if you want).
  • A blogroll or list of links to other people's blogs. There's nothing wrong with linking to blogs you love, but do this on a single page rather than sitewide in your sidebar.
  • Tag clouds – they tend to look messy and they're not especially easy to use. A "search" option will give readers the same sort of functionality, where they can search for what they want to know.

You probably won't have time to do all of these at once: don't wait until you do! Pick one to tackle this week, one next week, and so on ... and in just over a month, your blog will be in great shape.
 
Q&A: Balancing Writing with "Other Writing Related Work"
Image
One reader asked about, "Balancing writing with 'other writing-related work'."

This is a struggle for pretty much every writer I know. It doesn't matter what type of writing you do, or whether you're self-publishing (e.g. on Amazon, on a blog) or being traditionally published (e.g. by a publishing company, in a magazine) ... a fair chunk of your time will be taken up by "writing-related" work that doesn't actually involve writing.

Some examples of "writing-related" work include:
  • Coming up with ideas
  • Research and fact-checking
  • Writing and sending pitches to magazines or blogs.
  • Keeping track of what you've sent out.
  • Planning and recording interviews
  • Formatting your work for a blog
  • Engaging with social media
  • Attending conferences or classes about writing
  • Filing and organising
  • Doing your taxes
  • Answering emails
  • Speaking at events

Most writers want to spend the majority of their time writing. This is particularly true if you're building a writing career while working at a day job (which is the case for many writers) -- you want to be doing as much actual writing as possible.

Here are some things to try:

#1: Writing = Primary; Everything Else = Secondary

Put your writing first. That either means writing first during the day, before you get to everything else, or saving your most creative, focused hours of the day for your writing. (This can be hard, because writing is often a high-resistance activity; it may seem easier to get on with all the admin work.)

#2: Automate or Delegate As Much as Possible

Is there anything that you can streamline with your admin? For instance, if there's a particular type of email reply you often have to write, create a template so you've got it ready-saved. Write a checklist or workflow for common tasks (e.g. uploading and publishing a blog post): this will be handy if you can afford an assistant in the future, but it's also a good way to make your processes as efficient as possible.

#3: Pay for Specialist Help Where Appropriate

It's well worth budgeting for help when you simply don't have the skills to do a good (and quick) job. Don't spend hours and hours trying to create a cover for your ebook -- just pay someone to do it for you. They'll likely do it much faster than you could and to a higher standard. (I'll be blogging about paying for cover design on Monday, so stay tuned for that.)

#4: Set Goals or Targets for Your Writing

"Write more" is too vague to be a useful goal. "Spend 30 minutes writing novel each day" is much better. I usually find that if I prioritise my writing and set sensible targets for it, everything else fits in around the edges.

#5: Keep on Top of Non-Writing Tasks

It's easy to waste time if you can't remember what you need to do (or if you end up doing it in a mad rush at the last minute). For nearly a year now, I've been using David Allen's Getting Things Done system plus the task tracking software Nozbe to help me keep on top of everything. You can read my thoughts on both here: http://www.aliventures.com/getting-things-done-for-writers.

#6: Focus on High Return-on-Investment Activities

Some "writing-related" activities can take a lot of time for not much benefit. Reading book after book and taking course after course while doing very little writing won't get you far. Similarly, spending hours on social media to build a big Twitter following isn't likely to be as useful as investing some time in setting up a Facebook ad to market your novels.

Try one of these this week, and see if you can free up a little extra time for your writing. Good luck!

Have you got a writing-related question? Just reply to this email to send it straight to me, and I'll use it in a future edition of the newsletter.
 
In next week's newsletter, I'll be talking about reducing distractions while you write.

Till then, happy writing,

Ali

P.S. As always, don't forget to check out this week's post on the Aliventures blog: How to Blog Consistently and Build Your Audience: Eight Simple Steps
Download your mini-ebooks at aliventures.com/newsletter-secret with the password alinewsletter

Blog     |     Twitter    |   Facebook  |    Goodreads